Revolution
by IWishIWasAMermaid
Summary: When Alex is hired to look after an international celebrity, he can’t say he’s looking forward to it. But when MI6 are involved, nobody has a choice. Is Lia really the self obsessed celebrity that he thinks she is, or is she different? Is she like Alex?
1. Hold On Tight

**Author: **kcutie16

**Title: **Revolution

**Summary: **When Alex is hired to look after an international celebrity, he can't say he's looking forward to it. In his opinion, all celebrities are self-obsessed, two-faced, selfish people, and he doesn't really want to mix with that crowd. But when MI6 are involved, nobody has a choice. Alex is less than pleased with his new job, but are things as he expects them to be? Is Lia really the self-obsessed celebrities that he thinks she is, or is she different? Is she different, just like Alex?

**Music: **Revolution - The Veronicas.

"**Hold on tight, I am, I'm a revolution"**

Lia Hartford bounded off stage, breathing heavily. Well, it was no surprise, considering she had just finished the first night of her sell-out tour. Or, almost finished it.

She took a deep breath as she just stood, listening to her fans, screaming her name, wanting her to do an encore. And they'd get one. As soon as she had her breath back.

"Lia! You were amazing honey!" Her mother rushed over to her, extending her arms. She swept Lia into a huge hug, nearly knocking what little breath she had left out of her.

"Thanks mom," Lia said in her American accent. It felt weird, to be around all English people, but be an American herself. Even her mother was English.

"Give it two minutes for the encore, Lia." Lia's manager walked past, and signalled to his watch. Lia nodded, to show that she understood. Two minutes would hardly be anything to her, but to her fans, it was the line between staying and leaving. Any more than two minutes, and they would begin leaving.

"I have to go and speak to your vocal coach, darling." Lia's mum smiled. "I'll be back soon to watch you shine!"

"Oh…" Lia began, but her mother was already over with Erica, discussing Lia's singing regime. "…kay."

She sighed. Sometimes, sometimes she wished that she could be back to being normal. Where life wasn't about routines, and regimes and order. It was about freedom, and being able to do whatever you wanted.

"You have to get out of here," a voice behind her said. She whipped around, to see a fair haired boy standing there. He wore all black, and had a crew pass around his neck, but something told her he wasn't part of the crew. He was too young for one thing.

"Excuse me?" Lia asked, wondering who this boy was, and why he was telling her to leave.

"You have to leave. Now," he hissed, grabbing her arm.

Lia was confused, but she assumed this was a fan. Any second now, he'd come out with some stupid speech about how they had to get married, and be together forever. It was freaky, but it happened to her regularly. And she never got used to it, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. Restraining orders didn't include everybody. "Can I ask why I have to leave now?"

"Well you can, but it'll waste time," the boy said, almost sarcastically.

Lia sighed. This one was smart. And cute. But she couldn't leave. "Why do I have to leave?"

"Because you're in danger," the boy muttered.

Lia was shocked. It hadn't been the answer she was expecting, and the boy knew that. Danger? What type of danger? "What?"

"You. Are. In. Danger. We need to leave here. Now," the boy repeated, but it was obvious he was tiring. He didn't want to repeat it again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her manager, gesturing that she had to go back on stage.

"I'm sorry. One song and I'll come back," Lia apologised, and shook her arm from his grasp.

"No! Wait!" She heard the boy cry, but tried to ignore it. She was in no danger. She was almost sure of it.

She ran back on stage. "Did I hear an encore?"

Her fans screamed their approval, and Lia smiled. This was what kept her going. "Okay, here you are! But really, last song this time!"

The baseline cranked up.

Guitar riffs began.

The beat started.

Lia opened her mouth to sing…

And then the music stopped.

The pyrotechnics blazed, and caused a fire. The fire spread across the stage.

Lia was rooted to the floor. Danger. Was this the danger the boy had talked about?

She heard something click. She didn't know how, but she heard it over the loudness in the arena. And it chilled her. Because she knew, what it was. It was the sound of a gun getting ready to fire.

But she still couldn't move. She wanted to run. She had to run. But she just couldn't.

"Watch out!" Strong arms grabbed her, and suddenly she was flying. Or it felt like she was. "Grab the rope!"

Lia held her hand out, and finding a rope, she grabbed it. "Got it!"

The strong arms released her, and she knew that she had to hold onto the rope. She had to keep hold of it.

Then she heard the shot.

The noise was so loud, it drowned out everything else. Lia looked behind her, seeing the amplifier behind where she was standing smashing to pieces. A second longer, and she would have been in the place of the amplifier.

It was only then, that she heard the screams of the fans. But they were no longer in admiration. They were in panic.

"Let go," a voice whispered into her ear, and she did so, dropping onto the floor on the right of the stage.

"Ouch," she said, as her back hit the floor.

A hand was extended to help her up, and she took it, lifting her body off the ground.

She stood up properly, finding herself looking into the eyes of the boy. The boy who had warned her.

"You should have listened," he said, sulkily.

Lia sighed. "Well I'm sorry, but do you have any idea how insane it sounds to walk up to someone and tell them that they're in danger? An idiot wouldn't have believed it."

"Well then it's a good job you didn't." He turned away, and began scanning the room for an exit. "Otherwise your argument would have been flawed."

Lia couldn't believe how rude this boy was being. "Are you calling me an idiot now?"

"If the shoe fits," he shrugged.

"Who the heck are you?" Lia asked, putting her hands on her hips.

The boy turned and raised his eyebrows. "I'm Alex Rider. But that's all you'll ever need to know."

Lia was incredibly annoyed with Alex Rider, but she felt like she had to thank him. He had saved her life. "Well Alex Rider. Thank you. For saving my life."

"Oh, so you celebrities actually know the meaning of thank you?" Alex sighed. "Figures. You'll act all nice, but when you come to do interviews about the 'terrifying leap' you made, you'll take all the credit."

"I won't!" Lia cried. "Look, if you want thanks, then I'll thank you. If you want ignorance, than I'll be ignorant towards you. I don't care.  
All I know is that I'd be dead by now if it wasn't for you."

"Glad you noticed," Alex sighed. "Look, if we don't get out of here right now, you may still be in a morgue tomorrow morning."

"Well then, lead the way," Lia offered, deciding to let him do all the work. He was probably better at it.

Alex rolled his eyes, and then tapped on the wall. "Stand back."

Lia did as she was told, and watched, as Alex performed a karate kick, knocking down the wall.

"Now go," Alex said, pushing her through the door.

Lia sighed. She'd heard of 'ladies first' but she didn't know that it involved shoving the lady out of the doorway. "Where to?"

"The car," Alex said, pointing to a black car, that hadn't been there seconds before. Lia wondered where it came from.

Alex pulled open the door, and got inside. Lia followed, scowling. If this boy wasn't going to be friendly, then she saw no reason to be friendly back. But he had saved her life…

The door was closed, and the car with black tinted windows drove away.

**This is my first Alex Rider fanfic, so don't shoot me if it isn't all that good. I'm hoping it will improve, and people will like it, but if people don't like it, I may just scrap the whole thing, and carry on writing fanfics in other genres. **


	2. Dancing In The Video

**Author: **kcutie16

**Title: **Revolution

**Summary: **When Alex is hired to look after an international celebrity, he can't say he's looking forward to it. In his opinion, all celebrities are self-obsessed, two-faced, selfish people, and he doesn't really want to mix with that crowd. But when MI6 are involved, nobody has a choice. Alex is less than pleased with his new job, but are things as he expects them to be? Is Lia really the self-obsessed celebrities that he thinks she is, or is she different? Is she different, just like Alex?

**Music: **Stupid Girls - Pink

**"She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent"**

_9 hours earlier_

"Alex Rider." The all-too-familiar voice echoed in his ears.

Alex groaned. When he had been formally invited to a party, he knew all too well that something was up. But, having Jack Starbright as a guardian, meant when you got invited to free parties with a plus one on the invitation you were going, whether MI6 were setting you up or not.

"We're so glad you came," Mrs Jones said, not sounding very glad at all. Just robotic. Monotonous.

"I bet you are," Alex sighed, as he turned around, finding himself looking into Alan Blunt's eyes. They were no different from the last time he had seen them, which had been less than three weeks ago. In fact, Alex couldn't remember a time when he had gone a whole month without seeing these two people. He wished he could.

"Are you having fun, Alex?" Mrs Jones asked, though it was clear that she didn't care. It was something she felt she had to do. Lure him in before setting off the trap.

"I was. Until now. But I'm sure you know why that is," Alex said, not meaning to sound so rude, but when you were in circumstances like his, it was hard not to be.

"Alex, I'm sure you know why we brought you here," Blunt said, bluntly.

Alex sighed. "I'm guessing it's something to do with a mission. Although I have no idea where I got that from. Pulled it out of thin air, I guess."

"Maybe we could go somewhere more...private?" Mrs Jones asked, and signalled to the bouncers who were positioned around the room. Ordinary partygoers would have presumed they were there to keep control. Alex had known better.

They let Alex walk into the room first. Then, they closed the door, and Alex heard a lock click. He was locked in here, until he agreed to whatever deed these people had in mind this time. And no doubt blackmail, and threats would be involved. That was their usual way of dealing with him.

"Alex, we'll get to the point," Blunt said, sitting down on a desk that was positioned in the middle of the room. Mrs Jones sat next to him, and Alex reluctantly took the seat opposite them.

"I had no doubt that you wouldn't." Alex folded his arms. They always got right to the point.

"Lia Hartford," Mrs Jones said, and clicked a button on the computer screen next to her. A projected picture of the girl came up on a huge screen on a wall. "What do you know about her?"

"She's a singer. One of those manufactured celebrities that like all others don't care about anyone but themselves. Her father is that famous billionaire, Stephen Hartford. He's famous for designing and making a new type of car. Her mother is British. She's currently doing a tour in England. Shall I continue?" Alex said, bored.

Mrs Jones shook her head. "No. As you said, her father is the richest man in England. She was sent to a boarding school in America when she was four. She stayed there until she was thirteen years of age, at which point, her career took off. She is now fourteen, a few years younger than yourself, and an international superstar. But, there are some people who want her dead."

"Isn't that a bit extreme?" Alex asked, his nose wrinkling. "I mean, I know her music is awful, but why kill her for it?"

Blunt sighed. "Alex, we found out that her manager has written up a contract. Anything that happens to Lia has to be paid for. Her father signed that contract. If she dies, her father has no choice but to hand over money. The manager wants that money."

"Why doesn't Stephen just fire him?" Alex asked, confused about how this involved him.

"Well, because Mr Hartford has no proof at all. He hasn't got a copy of this contract, and so far Lia's manager has seemed to have her safety in his best interests," Mrs Jones explained.

Alex shrugged. "So, are you going to ask me to get proof?"

Mrs Jones and Alan Blunt looked at each other.

"No," Mrs Jones said, eventually. "We want you to watch over Lia. Look out for her. Make sure that she doesn't get killed."

Alex was confused. "But how?"

"Well, you're a fourteen year old boy. She's a fourteen year old girl. You two could be friends. You wouldn't be able to go undercover as anything else. However, an adult can. We put an agent undercover working with the stage crew. He's investigating her manager. You, however, will only be protecting her. It's perfectly safe," Mrs Jones finished.

"No. Actually, no, it isn't. What happens if someone shoots at her? That wouldn't be safe!" Alex cried. The way these people talked was ridiculous.

"Alex, it's safer than anything that you've done so far. All you have to do is pose as her friend. It'll be easy. You'll get along great," Alan Blunt said, trying to sound cheerful. It didn't work.

They wouldn't get along. Alex knew as much already. Celebrities. They were all the same. Superficial girls, who thought that skinny was best, and clothes had to be in style, otherwise they weren't good enough.

"What if I say no?" Alex asked. They couldn't threaten him with Jack anymore. She had her visa. Permanent. He just wondered what they would do.

"Well, your old friend. Sabina Pleasure. She's been requesting to see you. We could do something about that. Let her come and see you. Alternatively, we could ban her from returning to England for a while. Put a lockdown on all plane tickets booked. Would you like to see her again Alex?" Alan Blunt threatened. The thing about it was, he made these threats sound like he was ordering his lunch. Like he used threats on everybody, and spent all day making up new ones.

Alex sighed. He'd love to see Sabina again. Part of him wondered why she had moved away. Her dad had been transferred to San Francisco. Suddenly. He had always wondered if MI6 were behind it, or if it was just one of those things.

"So, what do you say Alex?" Mrs Jones asked. She could see that Alex was wearing down. He wanted to see Sabina, and this was the only way. She didn't approve of Alan's ways, but they proved effective. They needed Alex for this project. He could have avoided the other missions. It wasn't completely necessary for him to act on those missions; they had just wanted him to. This one needed Alex. Vitally.

"Fine," Alex said, disgruntled.

Mrs Jones smiled, and held out her hand for Alex to shake it. Alex ignored it, like he'd done the last time they had met, and got up. Alan Blunt pressed a button, and the lock on the door was released.

"When do I leave?" Alex asked, as he was handed a file.

Mrs Jones looked at him. "Tonight."

**Yeah, probably still no better. Ugh, if I don't get any reviews, I'll just delete it. It's not even that good in my opinion. But hey, I've been wrong before. **


	3. Hard To Argue

**Author: **kcutie16

**Title: **Revolution

**Summary: **When Alex is hired to look after an international celebrity, he can't say he's looking forward to it. In his opinion, all celebrities are self-obsessed, two-faced, selfish people, and he doesn't really want to mix with that crowd. But when MI6 are involved, nobody has a choice. Alex is less than pleased with his new job, but are things as he expects them to be? Is Lia really the self-obsessed celebrity that he thinks she is, or is she different? Is she different, just like Alex?

**Music: **Hands Open - Snow Patrol

**"It's hard to argue when you won't stop making sense"**

_9 hours later_

"No way," breathed Lia, as the car stopped in front of a...bank? "You dragged me all the way to Liverpool Street to go to a bank? I don't even have an account here! And I'm not setting one up."

Alex sighed. "It isn't a bank."

"Um, I may not be totally smart, but I can read. And that there-" she jabbed at a plaque on the wall next to the bank. "-says that this is a bank."

"The bank is a cover," Alex explained. "This is HQ."

Lia almost scoffed, but stopped herself. The way Alex had said 'HQ' implied that he despised this place, and he probably didn't need her to remind him how stupid it sounded.

"Well, lead the way then," Lia said, and Alex walked in front of her to unlock the door. Not with a key. With a code. Usually Lia would have craned over his shoulder to see what the code was, but today she couldn't' be bothered. And she had a feeling she wouldn't want to be coming back to this place much anyway.

Alex pulled the door open, and went inside, with a brief look over his shoulder to make sure Lia was still there. She was.

"Where are we going?" Lia asked, as they walked to the elevator. "I mean, I know we're in a bank, but it's totally closed."

"I told you. It isn't a bank. But they'll explain all that to you when you get up there. Right now, I can't tell you anything. Sorry." Alex reached the lift, and punched the button.

Lia stopped next to him. "You don't sound all that sorry."

"There's just a million places I'd rather be, that's all," Alex sighed, wishing he were at home, with Jack. She'd probably been told that he was on another mission. He doubted she'd be very pleased. She'd always frowned upon the fact that Alex could be killed. But they'd reassured him this time, that there would be no danger.

Lia nodded. "Me too. I should be with my Mom, and having everyone congratulate me on a great first performance. Yet, I'm in a...HQ, with a guy who obviously dislikes me, for reasons that are beyond me, and I have no idea why."

"I don't completely dislike you," Alex said, a few seconds later. "I've just had a couple of bad experiences with rich celebrities. It puts you off for life."

Lia looked at the floor. "When is this elevator going to get here?"

Just then, the lift pinged, and the door slid open. Alex smiled, for the first time that night. "Does that answer your question?"

"I guess," Lia smiled, as she got into the lift. They stood, waiting for the lift to rise the seventeen floors to their destination. She stood thinking. Alex had quite a nice smile. When he actually did smile. He hadn't done much smiling that night. And he was cuter than most of the guys back in America. Not that she got to meet many of them.

"Here we are," Alex said, his face now resuming its serious expression. Lia wondered why. Would it kill him to smile longer than five seconds?

Lia followed him into a corridor. It was a long corridor, with doors spaced every five metres or so. Each door had a number and a name tag on it. She didn't recognise any of the names.

Alex had stopped outside a door, that said simply **"Alan Blunt"**. He raised a hand, and knocked on it, beckoning for Lia to walk over to him. She did, just as the door was opened.

"Alex!" A dark-haired woman cried, but whether she was happy to see him, or mad at him, Lia couldn't tell.

"I had to bring her here. She has to be told what's happening. Because she got shot at tonight," Alex explained to the two adults in the room. The other one was a grey-haired man, who's mouth was pinched. He looked like he was sucking a lemon.

"She didn't get hit?" the man asked, not sounding very concerned at all.

Alex sighed. "I would have taken her to hospital if she'd been hit. She's fine, but she wants answers. And you're going to be the ones to give her them."

"He saved me," Lia piped up. "I was like, frozen, and there was fire. And I'm scared stiff of fire. But Alex swung across on a rope, and saved me. Literally. A second later, and I would have been blown to pieces. Like the amplifier was behind me."

A flicker of concern crossed Mrs Jones's face. This was bigger than she thought. Someone was definitely out to kill Lia, and they weren't amateurs.

"So can you tell me what's going on? Because I'd kinda like to know if someone wants to murder me," Lia said.

Alan Blunt had to think. She would have to sign the Official Secrets Act. She would have to act this whole time. Alex needed to stay with her, and she needed to keep up the undercover work. Should he tell her?

"Sit down," Mrs Jones offered, getting up, and gesturing to the two chairs facing Alan Blunt.

Lia did so, and took a deep breath. She had a feeling that what these people were about to tell her was going to change her life.

Alex reluctantly sat down, and waited for Blunt to begin. They had to tell her what was going on. Lia needed to know. She had a right to know. And as much as he disliked most celebrities, they still had rights.

"Lia Hartford," Alan Blunt began, and then stopped, like he was searching for the words to say. Alex was surprised. Blunt was almost never rendered speechless.

"That's me," Lia offered.

"Lia, you must never repeat this to anybody else. Nor can you repeat who we are, where we are, and what we told you. This whole meeting never happened. When you walk out of this building, Alex will accompany you. You will go back to your house, and you will act naturally. Is that clear?" Blunt said.

Lia nodded. "Crystal."

"You're in danger. Your father signed a contract, when he appointed your manager, that anything that happens to you, your father has to pay for. Regardless of anything. If you broke your arm, your manager would receive a certain amount of money. At first, Ethan Reynolds, your manager, saw no reason to enforce this contract. You were getting good publicity, your album and single sales were topping the charts. But then people began getting less interested. It was only your dedicated fans that bought your singles, went to your tours. New people began taking your place. Ethan wasn't happy about this, and so dug out the contract. There was another clause in the document, that said if you died, on stage, Ethan would have no blame put on him, and he would be paid for his loss. We're guessing that this is why he is hiring people to kill you," Blunt explained.

Lia smiled, as if she thought this was all a joke. "You are kidding."

"Would we kid about something like this?" Mrs Jones asked.

"I still have no idea who you are. And how can I believe you? Ethan has had my safety in mind ever since I started out," Lia argued.

Blunt merged his fingers together, and placed them in front of him on the desk. "This is the headquarters of MI6. The English version of the CIA, I guess you could say. And Ethan Reynolds did have your safety in mind, until you began losing money. He may seem charming, but inside he's a regular gold digger. He wants your money. If you aren't earning as much, he isn't interested. You're worth nothing to him whilst you are alive."

Lia didn't know what to think. These were professionals. They were MI6. These people probably knew more about her, than she knew about herself. But couldn't they be wrong? This whole thing seemed ludicrous.

"Lia, think about it. How did a person with a gun get into the auditorium? There were all sorts of security checks, and double checks. Your manager let them in. You almost died up there. How can you not believe us?" Mrs Jones persuaded her.

Lia knew they made sense. They were right. She might not have wanted to believe it, but they were. "What does Alex have to do with all this?"

Alex could sense the hurt in her voice. She had trusted her manager, and he had let her down. He could even see her eyes looking a bit more watery than they should. Maybe she was human after all.

"He's an agent. He's our youngest MI6 agent, and he has embarked on many missions for us, almost getting himself killed in the process," Mrs Jones explained.

"He's going to come with you. Pose as your friend, or boyfriend, or something like that, and he's going to protect you. As soon as we have enough proof, we can arrest your manager, and you can go on living a normal life. Or as normal as your life is," Blunt finished.

Lia sighed. "What am I going to say to my Mom? She'll never let him stay in our house."

"She has to," Mrs Jones said, as soon as the words had come out of Lia's mouth. "Night is the most vulnerable time for you. Alex has to be there."

There was silence in the room for a few minutes, but then Lia sighed. "Fine. Okay. Whatever."

"We'll arrange for a driver to take you back to your home. Try to persuade your mother to let Alex stay. If she still says no, then Alex will call us, and we'll arrange it. We'd rather not do that though," Blunt said.

Lia nodded. She didn't want to speak. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't this. It wasn't that she was being threatened with death, by one of her most trustworthy friends, if she could call him that.

"Update us Alex," Mrs Jones ordered.

"I will," Alex promised, and got up.

Lia stood up, shaking. "Goodbye."

Blunt just nodded, and watched the two teenagers leave the room, considerably more miserable than they had been when they entered.

"Is this wise?" Mrs Jones asked, as Alex and Lia disappeared from view.

Blunt got up and closed the door. "I guess we'll find out soon enough."

**I'm going on holiday tomorrow morning, and there's no internet access there, so there'll be no updates for two weeks. But I'll be scribbling stuff down when I'm there, so hopefully there'll be another few chapters as soon as I come back. **

**I'm sorry they seemed out of character. I tried to make them more in character in this chapter, although I'm not sure I accomplished it. **

**And in the last chapter, there was a little mistake with the ages. They are both fourteen. When I wrote the first thing, I was having a weird moment, where I thought he was sixteen... ah well, I won't make that mistake again. **

**I'm glad I got some reviews though!**


	4. Want My Autobiography

**Author: **kcutie16

**Title: **Revolution

**Summary: **When Alex is hired to look after an international celebrity, he can't say he's looking forward to it. In his opinion, all celebrities are self-obsessed, two-faced, selfish people, and he doesn't really want to mix with that crowd. But when MI6 are involved, nobody has a choice. Alex is less than pleased with his new job, but are things as he expects them to be? Is Lia really the self-obsessed celebrity that he thinks she is, or is she different? Is she different, just like Alex?

**Music:** Autobiography - Ashlee Simpson

**"If you want my auto, want my autobiography, baby just ask me"**

The car pulled up outside the Hartford Mansion about ten minutes later, and Lia immediately snapped off her seatbelt, and got out of the car. Alex followed suit.

"Well, we'd better get this over with," Lia croaked, not looking at Alex. She didn't want to look; didn't want the look of sympathy, or the look of satisfaction. She didn't even want to see which expression he was choosing to wear.

Then she turned on her heel, and began walking up the path. Alex nodded at the driver to signal that he was okay, and then began to follow Lia. The car pulled away, and Alex couldn't help feeling that he was being dropped in deep. He'd been in positions like this before, and hadn't wanted to be in them again.

"Mom!" Lia called, as she unlocked the front door with a swipe of a plastic card. "Are you here? Are you okay?"

Alex heard a cry from a room in the house, and suddenly a blur of colour whisked to the door.

"Honey! I was so scared! The amplifier behind you, and the gunshot, and then you disappeared. It was bedlam! And I was worried you'd been kidnapped, or..." her mother trailed off, and hugged Lia instead.

Alex felt a twinge of sadness. Her mother cared so much about her, and he wondered what his life would be like if his mother were alive. He doubted he'd be working for MI6. Although his father was an assassin, killed by the spies who worked at his agency. Would he have turned out like him? He didn't have time to think anymore, because Lia's mother had turned to him.

"And who is this?" She sounded enthusiastic, but Alex thought that had more to do with the fact that her daughter was alive than the fact that he was there.

"This is A-" Lia began, but Alex felt the need to cut in.

"I'm Luke."

"You are?" Lia wrinkled her nose.

Alex nodded. "Yes, I am."

"He is," Lia nodded, finally understanding what was happening. "This is a friend, Luke."

Lia's mother nodded. "And who is he?"

"He saved my life," Lia entered, knowing that this would earn 'Luke' a few bonus points in her mother's books. And right now they needed as many bonus points as they could get.

"It was nothing," Alex smiled.

Lia turned to him and nodded. "Yeah, okay, nothing. Mom, he swung across the stage on a rope, and grabbed me, seconds before that amplifier behind me got blown into pieces. If he hadn't done that, the amplifier would have still been intact."

Mrs Hartford gasped. "You did that?"

Alex shrugged.

"Well, we must repay you! I must repay you! You saved my daughter's life! Name anything, and I'll give it to you."

Lia tried to conceal her smile. This was what they needed. "Well, actually..."

"Yes?"

"Luke needs a place to stay. The hotel he was booked into was closed unexpectedly. So, I said, if it was okay with you, that he could stay here," Lia said.

Mrs Hartford nodded enthusiastically. "You have to stay here. You must. I insist upon it."

"Well thanks Mrs Hartford," Alex thanked her, glad that this way had worked. If it hadn't they would have had to get MI6 involved.

"Lia will show you around. You must have dinner with us," Mrs Hartford said, and stepped aside so that they could get into the house.

The hallway was decorated with different patterned wallpapers. It was bright, and extravagant, but, in Alex's opinion, a bit over the top. Too over the top.

"Great. I'll see you later then Mom," Lia hurriedly grabbed Alex's arm, and pulled him away from her mother. Before Mrs Hartford could interrupt they were climbing the stairs.

Lia dropped Alex's arm, and then ran the rest of the way up the stairs. He had to speed up to be able to see where she was going, and eventually, they reached a long hallway. Lia walked about half the way up the corridor, and then stopped outside a door.

"You can come in here if you want. But you're sleeping next door. Don't worry though, there's adjoining doors, and I won't lock mine, so if you hear me scream, you can just storm in and do your thing. But if I hear you come in and I'm not screaming, I'm hurting you," Lia sighed, and walked in.

He was surprised to find that her room wasn't what he had envisioned. He had supposed it'd be pink, or purple, but it was white. And had a green effect to just about everything else in the room.

But the thing that most surprised him, was the guitars in the room. There were three: an acoustic, a red Yamaha Pacifica, and a black Fender Stratocaster.

Why did Lia Hartford have three guitars, when he had never seen her playing one? Never in music videos, on TV or on stage. He had never seen her with a guitar.

"I play," Lia was sitting on her bed, watching him.

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Don't look at me like that. I play the guitar, and you may not believe me, but I do," Lia defended. When she still saw the look of disbelief on Alex's face, she sighed. "What song do you want to hear then?"

Alex shrugged, not caring. He just wanted to see, with his own two eyes, that Lia Hartford could play the guitar.

"Fine," Lia said, getting up and picking up the acoustic. Alex watched as she walked back to her bed, the guitar in her hand.

She strummed a single chord, and then made up her mind. "I'm only playing a chorus of a song, just to prove to you that I'm not the Barbie that you think I am."

Alex nodded, to show that he understood.

Lia began to strum a chord, and Alex was fairly surprised to find that it sounded amazing.

_I can see into her heart, as it's pierced with every dart_

_That they throw at her, that they throw at her_

_And I close my eyes and hope, that they will just walk away and go_

_But I know that they, I know that they _

_Won't_

"So, do you believe that I can play now?" Lia asked, as she put down her guitar.

"Why do you never play on stage?" Alex asked, not completely answering her question.

Lia sighed. "Well, I write songs, and play, but whenever I present them to my Mom and Ethan... they try to change them, and eventually we end up straying so far from my song, that I can't even find it there anymore."

"So why let them do it?" Alex asked.

"Because I can't record anything without Ethan's consent. And my Mom has never had my intentions at heart. She wanted to become a singer. But it never worked, so now she's using me to live her dream. She never even asked me what I wanted to do, and how I wanted to do things," Lia sighed.

Alex walked over and sat next to her. "Can't your Dad do something?"

"Alex? If you want to know about my life, just ask me outright about my life. Otherwise your subtlety will have us here all night," Lia looked up at him and sighed.

Alex didn't say anything.

"Is all of this true?" Lia asked, after the silence had become too long. "Does Ethan really want to kill me?"

Alex shrugged. "MI6 think so. But they've been wrong before."

"Reassuring to know," Lia smiled.

There was a silence again, and eventually it was Alex who broke it. He walked over to the door and opened it. "I'll go next door. When's dinner?"

Lia got up and followed him to the door, a hint of confusion in her eyes. "Okay. I dunno. Mum'll get the cook to make something. Unless you want to do what I do, and make something yourself."

"You have a cook?" Alex asked, raising his eyebrows and stepping out into the hall.

Li shook her head. "No. Mum has a cook. I'm my own chef. I don't like making people work for me, just because I'm too lazy to do it myself."

Alex looked surprised, and Lia smiled.

"I'm not the snobby rich girl you think I am, Alex," she said, and then shut the door, leaving Alex in the hall, staring at the woodwork.

**I don't really like this chapter, but I owed you guys an update, so I'll post it. I may come back and revise it, but I'll tell you if I do that. **


	5. Dirty Little Secret

-1**Music: **Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects

**"I'll keep you my dirty little secret"**

Alex was walking around this huge house. He'd been in houses as big as this; millionaires who had had more money than common sense. But this time he wasn't looking for something. He wasn't trying to find out what was going on. He knew. And he was here looking after a girl who appeared to be nicer than he had given her credit for.

He walked into another room, but this one was different from all the others. The other rooms looked too perfect to be lived in. This one was messy, and looked like a real family room. Although he doubted it was used for that. Lia apparently lived in America most of the time. And she hadn't mentioned any sisters or brothers.

Alex looked around, and surveyed the scene. The couch was wrinkled, and the television didn't have dust on it. There were stains on the coffee table where coffee had either been spilt, or the cup had been set down on the table. There were pictures on a cabinet on the other side of the room, and this was what interested Alex. He wandered over to them, and looked carefully at them.

One of them was of Lia's mother; a younger version. And she had her arm wrapped around a man, whom Alex presumed to be Stephen Hartford. They looked happy. Alex wondered where the man was now. He obviously wasn't here.

The next was another girl. A toddler. It wasn't Lia. He could tell by looking at her, that it wasn't Lia. But if it wasn't Lia, then who was it?

He dismissed it, and looked at the next one; the last one. This one was definitely Lia. Before she had been sent to a boarding school in America. He picked it up and smiled, recognising the bouncy smile, the blonde hair and the sparkle in her eyes. But there was something different about her. Something that he couldn't quite work out.

"Alex?"

Alex spun around, the picture still in his hand, feeling like a trespasser.

"What are you doing in here?" Lia asked, her nose scrunched up. She walked over to him, her bare feet padding on the patterned carpet.

"Um... looking at pictures," Alex said, pointing to the picture in his hand. "Is this you?"

Lia looked down at the picture and smiled. "I think you already knew the answer to that. Otherwise you probably wouldn't have picked it up."

"Yeah, okay. I did," Alex rolled his eyes. "Hey, who's this?" He pointed to the picture of the toddler; the one he couldn't identify.

Lia looked down at the picture. "Oh God..." she whispered, and picked up the picture frame. She held it with intense care, as though it was sacred. "Mom said she put all the pictures away. I told her she shouldn't have. I didn't want to take down all the pictures."

Alex was confused. She didn't seem to be speaking to him, yet she was having a conversation.

"God, look at her," Lia bit her lip, and Alex noticed that her eyes seemed to be more watery than they had before.

"Are you okay?" he asked, not really knowing what to say. She still hadn't answered his question.

Lia nodded her head, and placed the frame back where she had found it. "Yeah. Yes, I'm fine." She wiped her eyes and then lifted her head to face Alex. "Yeah, dinner is ready. Mom insisted we eat with her tonight."

Alex could have imagined it, but he could have sworn that he saw a flicker of disgust cross Lia's face. "What are we having?"

"Something with less than ten calories, no doubt," Lia rolled her eyes. "And there was me wanting a burger or something."

Alex smiled.

"You coming?" Lia asked, walking backwards out of the room.

Alex took one last look at the picture she had seemed to get so upset over, and then looked back at her. "Sure," he said, and followed her out of the room.

"So, Luke..." Mrs Hartford cut up her chicken with immense care. "What sort of things do you like to do?"

Lia rolled her eyes. Her mother could be too inquisitive for her own good.

"Well, I like to snowboard. And cycle. And windsurf. And I do karate," Alex told, truthfully. He just didn't put the things together to recreate a few of his missions.

Mrs Hartford nodded interested. She was thrilled that her daughter had brought a friend to stay, and even more ecstatic that it was a boy. Lia had never been very talkative and friendly, especially after the incident.

"So, you must tell me all about yourself. Because I want you to feel at home here while you stay," Mrs Hartford smiled at him, as she popped a minute piece of chicken into her mouth. "Lia, honey, Ethan will be coming over later."

Both teenagers stiffened at the mention of Lia's manager.

"W-why?" Lia asked, looking over at Alex nervously.

Mrs Hartford laughed. "Darling, he has to inform us of what is going to happen with the tour."

"Well it's still going to happen, isn't it?" Lia asked, worried about a different thing now.

"That'll be the day," her mother laughed. "Lia, somebody tried to shoot you. There is no way I'm letting you anywhere near that stage."

Lia frowned. "But all those people..."

"We'll refund them."

"But they'll be disappointed."

"Lia, your safety comes first..."

Lia sighed. "I just hate disappointing people..."

Recognition dawned on Alex. Lia didn't stand up to her mother because she felt as though that would disappoint her. So she kept slaving away at doing something that she didn't particularly want to do. Because disappointing people, and seeing the look of disappointment on their faces, was something she hated. This was why she did what she did. She didn't want to disappoint people.

"I know. But there is no other option. Lia, if you get killed, the people who have booked shows at a later date, get nothing. Ever. If we cancel now, then these people have a chance of seeing you at another date," Mrs Hartford coaxed.

Lia nodded, and then pushed her plate away. "I'm not hungry. Can I go up and finish a song I was working on?"

"Sure!" Mrs Hartford smiled, and watched her daughter get up and walk out of the room. Then she turned to Alex. "Is she okay Luke?"

Alex didn't know what to say. He hardly knew Lia, or this woman. "I think so..."

"She just seems so out of character these days... and then someone shot at her. I was so scared that I'd lost her. So, so scared. I couldn't lose someone else..." Her eyes went glassy.

Alex wanted to know more. Lose who? How? But he couldn't prise. If he couldn't ask Lia, then how was he supposed to ask Lia's mother?

"I'm sure you want to follow her upstairs," Mrs Hartford had snapped out of her stance.

Alex opened his mouth to reply.

"Of course you do. Run along. I hope to see you in the living room later. I'd love for you to meet Ethan," Mrs Hartford smiled, and then pressed a button beside her. Alex heard a bell ring in another room. Seconds later a woman had come in and was taking the plates away. She looked fed up, and Alex didn't blame her. He could see why Lia despised all of this.

He got up, and walked up the stairs, wondering what he'd say to Lia.

He could faintly hear chords being strummed from Lia's room, and paused to listen to them.

_When the sun comes out_

_And tie dye colours wash over the sky_

_I'll still be standing here_

_Trying not to cry_

_When the sun comes out_

_And the clouds they clear_

_Look out your window, I'll still be standing here_

_Still be standing here_

Alex sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't know why he was here. Hadn't he promised himself that he wouldn't get mixed up in the MI6 crowd again?

No more, he promised himself. No more.

He placed his hand on the handle of Lia's door, and paused, ready to push it open. Then he decided against it, and walked into his own room.

**Sorry it's taken so long. Hopefully a new one soon. **


	6. Waiting On Some Beautiful Boy

**Music: **When You Were Young - The Killers

**"You sit there in your heartache waiting on some beautiful boy"**

The guitar playing stopped a few hours later, and Alex wondered how she had gone so long. Continuous playing must really hurt your fingers, especially when you're pressing hard on the fret board.

He sat on his bed, wondering what his next move should be. Ethan was coming here. Chances were he wouldn't do anything. He wouldn't be able to claim any money if Lia didn't die on stage. Her house wasn't a stage. So Alex didn't think he'd be armed, or be ready to hurt Lia. As far as he knew, she still believed him to be innocent in all of this.

A car pulled up outside: Alex could hear the crunching of the gravel. He got up and looked out of his window. It was a long black limousine, and Alex had to stop himself from scoffing. This guy was pretty sure he was the greatest. Nobody would ever suspect that he was willing to kill a fourteen year old girl to get money.

A knock on the door pulled Alex's gaze from the car, and the man now getting out of it. "You can come in!" he yelled.

The door handle turned and the door opened, revealing Lia. She had tied her hair back and taken all of the stage make-up off. "He's here. Alex, what am I supposed to do?"

"Act as normal as you can," Alex shrugged.

Lia looked shocked. "I know that my manager wants to kill me, and you're telling me to act normal?"

"We have to. You have to. Otherwise he may just kill you now," Alex tried to explain.

"Great reassurance Alex. Act normal and die later, or act suspicious and die now," Lia rolled her eyes.

"I didn't mean it like that..." Alex began, but a call from downstairs interrupted him.

"Lia! Ethan is here!"

Lia looked at Alex. "Can you come down? In about fifteen minutes? Unless you hear a gunshot and me screaming before that, obviously."

Alex didn't know what to say. He hadn't been briefed on how _he _should act in front of Ethan; they had never considered the fact that there might have to be a meeting. But he just had to look at Lia's face to know that he had to. She didn't know what to do; was less experienced than him. Sending her down there was like sending a untrained puppy to get the newspaper. It would go, but it wouldn't know what it was looking for.

"Alex," Lia asked again. "Please. I promise he won't hurt you, and I can take care of it. Tell him you're a friend staying with us. I can hold him for fifteen minutes, but not much longer than that. Not on my own anyway."

Alex nodded. He didn't feel like he had any other choice. "Okay."

Lia smiled weakly, and then walked towards the door. "If you hear him yelling "exterminate" in a weirdly computerized voice, give The Doctor a ring for me. He should be on speed dial in the Tardis."

Alex laughed, and watched as she left the room. He listened to her footsteps going downstairs, and then heard a man's voice booming from one of the many rooms below.

He sat down heavily on his bed, thinking about the surprises of the day.

It was pretty late by now, but Alex didn't feel tired. He looked at his watch, making sure that he knew when he had promised to go downstairs.

Lia hadn't been what he'd expected. He'd thought she'd be a diva, who demanded everything; who made the rules and then let others follow them. A girl who didn't know what some people had to do to earn the money that she did. A girl who had everything she wanted, and more, because she bought whatever she wanted. And in a way, she was. Painted on the mask that she wore everyday was that girl. Everybody else in the world believed she was that girl. But she was so much more than that girl.

Lia was normal. She wasn't the type of person who'd do the above things, yet she let people believed she was. Either that, or she figured that everyone would have their own perceptions regardless of how she acted. She had been given a character and she had to play it, in order to keep everyone happy. Only she was losing herself as she tried to keep others satisfied.

Alex shook his head. Why were his thoughts consumed mostly of Lia? They didn't need to be. He was on another mission. There was no need for the thoughts on who Lia Hartford actually was. She was another person to save. That was all. There had been dozens of people he had had to save. None of them had entered his head as much as Lia had been able to.

A glance at his watch told him that it was almost time to go downstairs, and so he got up and walked out of the room.

He didn't know what to expect from this manager guy. But he didn't care. This guy was just another warped villain, who thought that the law didn't apply to him. That he was allowed to kill people if he wanted to.

Alex walked slowly down the stairs, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Not yet.

He could hear snippets of conversation.

"Yes, Lia is having a friend to stay. His name is Luke. Very nice boy. A bit quiet though..." Lia's mother was talking.

He knocked on the door, not wanting to barge in.

"That's probably Luke now!" Lia's voice sounded relieved. "You'll like him Ethan. Honestly."

The door was flung open, and Alex almost laughed at the relieved look on Lia's face.

"Thank you," she mouthed at him, and then turned back to her manager.

Alex caught his first glimpse of "Ethan", and he had to admit, he was exactly what he had expected. A balding man, in his late thirties or early forties, wearing designer sunglasses that he should have kept on the shelf, and a suit that was fashionable ten years ago.

"Hi there Luke," he smiled, and got up, holding his hand out.

Alex took it begrudgingly. Knowing what he was planning meant that he wasn't exactly Alex's best friend at that moment.

"So, are you Lia's friend, or special friend?" Ethan asked, smirking. Alex almost wanted to hit him.

"Actually, we only met tonight. He saved my life on the stage. Otherwise that psycho could have killed me. Aren't we like, so grateful?" Lia asked, a smirk on her face.

Alex either wanted to kick Lia, or kick Ethan. Ethan's face had dropped when he had found out that Alex was the one who saved Lia's life, but he had now resumed smiling.

"Well, well..." Ethan muttered.

Alex studied his face for a while longer, trying to read what the man was thinking. He wasn't very happy, Alex could work that out.

"Um..." Ethan looked at his watch, and then smiled at Lia's Mom. "Well, would you look at the time?"

Lia looked at the clock. "Yeah, it's midnight."

"And I have to go. Lia, you'll have to attend a press conference tomorrow. Bring..." Ethan looked at Alex for a moment, his eyes narrowed.

"Luke," Lia offered.

Ethan nodded, and tore his gaze away from Alex. "Yeah. Bring Luke if you want. You have to be at the Plaza Hotel tomorrow, and we'll release a statement saying that you shall not be cancelling the tour."

"Wait. She _won't _be cancelling the tour? Isn't that like, dangerous?" Alex asked.

Ethan shook his head. "It must have been a one-off. Who wants to kill Lia?"

Alex resisted answering. He knew exactly what kind of person would want to kill Lia, and he was standing in front of him.

"Yes, but what if it wasn't?" Lia's mother asked. Alex almost felt sorry for her. She didn't know the truth. She had no idea that the man who she trusted so much, was the man to trust the least.

"I'm almost positive it was," Ethan reassured her. "And just in case, we'll increase security by double the amount there already is. Nobody will get into that arena with a weapon."

Lia's mother nodded. "Well, we'll try it. And if I'm not happy, we can pull her out, can't we?"

Ethan nodded. "Absolutely."

"Well okay then," Lia's mother beamed. "Are you okay with that Lia?"

Lia looked at Alex, panicked. "Um...not really...Mom..."

"Lia, don't be silly. Only at dinner you were talking about not disappointing your fans, and how you wanted to stay on this tour, and now you're telling me the opposite," Lia's mother laughed.

Ethan looked at Lia, almost a sneer on his face.

"Mom, I got shot at. I had time to think upstairs. And I almost died, Mom," Lia tried to convince her.

"But Ethan is convinced it was a one-off," Lia's mother insisted.

Alex didn't know what to say without letting on that he knew. Lia had the same problem. She turned and looked at Alex, pleading with him to do something. They hadn't bargained on this. Alex shrugged lightly, so nobody else saw him.

"Um...fine," Lia sighed. "Can I skip tomorrow though? I'll be beat."

Ethan clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Sure honey. See you bright and ealry tomorrow, okay?"

"It almost is bright and early tomorrow," Lia muttered, as she walked out of the room, refusing to say goodbye to her manager.

"I'm gonna go after her..." Alex said, and pointed in the direction that Lia had gone.

Ethan held out his hand. "Nice to meet you Luke. I'll see you tomorrow?"

There was almost a menacing tone to his voice, but Alex forced himself to smile. "Sure. Well, goodnight."

Alex exited the room as soon as he could, and found Lia waiting for him outside.

"Alex, what do we do?" she hissed.

He looked around, and gestured upstairs. "We can't talk here. Plus you just called me Alex in earshot of your manager and your mom."

Lia ran upstairs, and Alex followed her into her bedroom.

"Alex, what the heck am I supposed to do?" Lia asked. "I can't get back on stage, knowing that he's paid someone to kill me."

Alex was pacing the room. "I'll have to get in touch with MI6. They'll put guards in that concert; they'll be more effective than the security Ethan involves. No encores. I'll be in the wings. Hopefully you'll be okay."

"Hopefully? There's some reassurance," Lia cried.

Alex sat next to Lia on the bed. "We have someone in there. Investigating your manager. Hopefully he'll have some evidence soon, and we can get you out of there."

"You've changed your tune," Lia sighed. "A few hours ago, you hated me more than I hate Brussels sprouts."

"I know. And I don't know why. You're just... different from the girl I expected. And I suddenly want to help you. So that's what I'm going to do," Alex said.

Lia looked at him. "Thanks. I guess I made judgements on you as well. It must be tough, having to do all this when you're fourteen. And I'm presuming you don't have a choice."

"They're blackmailing me," Alex admitted.

Lia bit her lip. "What with?"

"My friend who moved, and now lives in America. She wants to come and visit and they're threatening to stop her," Alex confessed.

"You like this girl?" Lia asked, a hit of disappointment in her voice.

Alex shrugged. He didn't know any more.

Lia smiled at him. She could tell he didn't want any more questions. "Okay. Well, I'm not dropping it, I'm just letting it go. For now."

"Good to know," Alex laughed.

"There's a conjoining door. Want me to leave it open, just in case some nut-job comes in?" Lia smiled.

Alex shook his head. "You're alright."

"Why I know. You are too," Lia laughed, and then smiled as Alex got up. He walked through the door, and Lia closed it.

She padded across the other side of the room, and pulled a pair of pyjamas from her drawer.

A knock sounded at the conjoining door. She rolled her eyes, and went to open it. "Yes?"

"Goodnight," Alex smiled. "And I may need some pyjamas."

Lia rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to be looking at you, boy. Get your act together." She closed the door, but left an inch open. "And Alex?"

"Yeah?" Alex asked, peeping through the crack.

"Goodnight," Lia whispered, closed the door fully, and padded over to her bed.

Her eyelids felt heavy. Jeez, it had been a long night.


	7. A Few Bored Faces

**Music: **Fake Tales of San Francisco - Arctic Monkeys

**"There's a few bored faces at the back, all wishing they weren't there"**

Lia was awoken with a knock on one of the doors in her room. She sat up, burry-eyed, and tried to work out which door it had come from.

"If it's Alex, that door is open, if it's Mom, I'm coming..." she called, and then flopped back down in her bed. She felt as if she'd had five minutes of sleep.

"You weren't supposed to call me Alex," Alex's voice came from across the room. "What if it had been your Mom?"

Lia sat up. "I would've told her that I kicked you out during the night, and brought in another stray."

"What would've happened when she saw me at breakfast?" Alex asked.

"Who said you'd have been at breakfast?" Lia raised her eyebrows. "And who said that you'd have gotten any breakfast regardless of what I may or may not have called you?"

Alex raised his eyebrows. "There's breakfast."

"No, there's not," Lia said.

He nodded. "Yes, there is..."

They stared at each other for a second, waiting for one of the to break.

"Jeez, fine, there's breakfast," Lia said, and pushed back the covers. "But I might not give you any."

"Now why would you want to do that?" Alex asked, and Lia noticed he was fully dressed.

Lia shrugged and lifted herself out of her bed. "You may annoy me."

"Me? No!" Alex pushed the idea away with his hands.

Lia rolled her eyes, and walked over to him. "My closet is next door. You can come in if you want. Just... don't touch any of it. If you do, I can't return it if it's one of the atrocities that my mother bought me."

"You have a room, as your closet?" Alex raised his eyebrows.

Lia rolled her eyes again. "Yes. Yes I do. And if that means I'm like Paris Hilton, then let it."

Then she padded over to her main door, and walked out, leaving it open for Alex to walk through it as well.

Alex wasn't going to move. But then curiosity of what was in this room, and how big it actually was, got the better of him, and he followed her.

"I knew you'd come," she smirked as she pushed open the door to the closet, and Alex walked into a room filled with more clothes than he had ever seen.

"I only really wear this quarter," Lia explained, walking to the far end of the room. "The rest of the stuff is what Mom has bought me, but has sickened me so much. Like this," she walked over to a neon pink top, and picked it up. "Who on this planet, would wear something as hideous as this? Besides from my mother?"

Alex laughed. "Well, you never know..."

"I do know. I know that dead or alive, I will never wear this top!" Lia cried, and jammed it back on the rail.

Alex laughed, and she smiled back.

"Wa-hay, there's a smile," Lia smiled, and walked back over to the other side of the closet. Then she pulled a few items from the shelf, and walked behind an indent in the wall.

"Stay there!" she called, and Alex did as she told him.

When she emerged, a few minutes later, she was fully dressed, and Alex was surprised to see that she looked really casual. Her navy vintage t-shirt, and jeans wouldn't have looked out of place in the streets outside his own house.

"What?" Lia asked, when she caught him looking at her in shock. "Is there something on my face?"

Alex shook his head. "No. No, you're fine."

Lia smiled, and slid on some shoes that were lying on the floor, and Alex noted that they were Converse sneakers. Not high heels.

"Breakfast?" Lia asked, as she walked past him.

"I thought I wasn't getting any," Alex joked.

Lia rolled her eyes. "Better get down there fast. Before I change my mind."

----

"Lia, darling!" A woman came up to Lia and hugged her. "How are you?"

Lia smiled sweetly. "Fine thanks, Rebecca. You?"

"Good darling. Good. I've just wrapped up filming my new movie, and your darling manager is trying to get you a part in the next one," the woman smiled. "You have to accept it!"

Lia nodded. "I'll check my diary."

Rebecca laughed, and then spotted someone over at the other end of the room. "Darling, Orlando Bloom is over there. I have to talk to him. Toodles!"

"Toodles," Lia grimaced, as Rebecca walked away. Then she turned to Alex. "Toodles? Toodles? Oy vey..."

Alex laughed and they began walking to the stage, where Lia's mother was beckoning to them. "I love how she ignored me."

"I love how she noticed me," Lia sighed. "They never used to notice me. I was invisible. And then I became 'famous' and woo, suddenly it's cool to talk to me."

"You mean I'm cool because I'm talking to you?" Alex pretended to be excited.

Lia rolled her eyes. "I really hope cool-ness wears off. You may need it."

"Hey!" Alex laughed.

"I'm cranky," Lia said, not apologising, but giving an excuse. "I don't think I had more than five minutes asleep last night, and now I have to sit, in a room, full of pampered princesses, while they screech at anything I say that may be remotely funny, because they want to be my friend."

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Long sentence."

"I can give you a shorter one if you want," Lia turned to him. "F-"

"Lia!" her mother cried. "Get over here."

Lia rolled her eyes. "Alex, get over here."

"She didn't say my name." Alex hoped he might get out of it that way.

She narrowed her eyes. "Yes, but I did."

"Okay, coming," Alex said hurriedly, and he followed her up to the stage.

Ethan stood up and clapped his hands when they had sat down, bringing the rabble of journalists and celebrities to order. "Hey everybody! We're here, obviously to discuss the threat made to this amazing girl's life. We, both I and Lia would like to make sure you all know that the tour is going ahead, and that we are both very confident that nothing else will go wrong."

Lia leaned to her right, where Alex was. "We're both confident?"

"He is," Alex muttered back.

"Any questions will be welcomed," Ethan smiled, and then sat down.

Shouts ensued from the crowd. Someone was selected, and they stood up. "Lia? How do you feel about this?"

Lia looked at Alex for a second. "Fine. I didn't want to disappoint anyone who had bought tickets, so I had a big input in what we were going to do."

Reporters scribbled it down, and then more shouts erupted in the hall.

"Lia, are you scared for your life?"

"Lia, have you tightened security?"

Lia answered each question as honestly as she could, without giving too much away. Alex scanned the room. He'd never been to a press conference before, and was trying to see if anyone suspicious was there.

"Only a few more questions," Ethan clapped his hands.

"Lia, who are you with today?"

Alex sat up. Lia turned to him, and he shrugged.

"Um...obviously my Mom, and Ethan... and this is my friend, Luke," Lia said, gesturing to Alex. She was so glad she remembered to call him Luke and not Alex.

"Who is he?"

Lia leaned forward, and spoke directly into the microphone. "I'd rather not talk about who I may or may not be friends with. Um... we're here to talk about what happened last night."

Ethan looked at her, but then smiled. "Lia is right. Only one more question please."

There was silence. Then someone put their hand up.

"Yes?" Ethan asked.

The man looked directly at Lia, and she felt a chill run up her spine. "How did you escape?"

Lia turned to look at Alex. He narrowed his eyes, trying to work out why this man was asking this.

"Um...Luke. You want to explain this one?" Lia panicked, not knowing what to say.

Alex looked at her. "Why me?" he muttered.

"Because you're the spy, you can think of a better lie," Lia whispered through her teeth.

Alex thought. "Um... I yelled at her to run. I was on the other side of the stage, watching from the sidelines. I ran toward her, grabbed her arm, and pulled her off the stage. Just as the shot was fired."

"That's very lucky," the man observed.

"Yeah. It is," Alex said, not breaking eye contact.

The man looked down first, and wrote something on a notepad.

"That's it!" Ethan clapped his hands. "If you have tickets to Lia's concert, we hope to see you there. We should be releasing another invitation to a press conference in a few months. Preparation for Lia's new album will begin after the tour."

The crowd of people began to leave, and Lia turned to Alex. "What just happened?"

Alex's eyes didn't leave the man's back, as he left the hall. "I think we just found ourselves our first suspect."


	8. Get A Glimpse

**Music: **Aly & AJ - In A Second

**"I would sail oceans, to get a glimpse of how you feel"**

After the conference, Ethan insisted on celebratory drinks in a nearby bar. What they were celebrating, Alex wasn't exactly sure, nor was he sure how drinking an insane amount of alcohol was a good way to celebrate the life of a fourteen year old girl. It wasn't like she was drinking it.

"Now that we have a suspect, what do we do?" Lia hissed, as the adults a few metres away cheered again. "I mean, it's not like we can go and hunt him down."

Alex looked at her. "What exactly do you think a spy does?"

"I don't know, do I? Your job and my job are almost fifty light-years apart. So excuse me if I'm not perfect on the day to day scenarios you act out," Lia sighed, and twirled her finger around the circular indent in the table.

"Right. Anyway, back to your question. All we can do is watch for him. He appears again, probably in a different disguise, then we know he's suspicious. Then we call Mrs. Jones, and she sends people in," Alex explained. Then he sighed; he wanted to say something more reassuring, but the way things usually went when he was around weren't usually the way they had been planned. "Simple."

Lia looked up from the ring she had been tracing, and raised her eyebrows. "Doesn't sound like it's all that simple..."

"Well, things don't usually go the way I want them to." Alex tried to be as vague as possible.

Lia just looked back down at the table. "Join the club."

"There's a club?" He smiled.

Lia rolled her eyes. "If there isn't, there should be."

---

Alex sat in the room, back in Lia's house, debating whether to call Mrs. Jones. His mobile phone lay on the bed in front of him, almost waiting for him to pick it up. But every other time that MI6 had intervened in his missions, they had gone wrong somehow. Something had been missed; something that really shouldn't have been. How was he to know that the same thing wouldn't happen now? And if it did, was he sure that Lia could get out of it? He had done it before. Several times before. But Lia had never done it.

Alex sighed, and opened the drawer to the cabinet beside him. Then he dropped the phone into it. Involving MI6 at this stage was wrong. They weren't even sure that their suspect was a suspect. He could just have been a very inquisitive reporter.

The radio was on in the next room, but he knocked on the adjoining door anyway. There was no answer, so he pushed it open slightly. "Lia?"

"What?" A voice came from behind the door, and he pushed it back a bit further to see her drying her hair near a mirror, dressed in a different outfit. She tilted her head, and smiled at him in the reflection. "Hey."

"Hi." Alex walked over and sat on his bed, watching her for a second.

She turned away from the mirror, and looked at him. "You okay?"

Alex just nodded, giving Lia the impression that he wasn't. Not really. She sighed, and got up, putting the towel on the chair she had just left, then sat next to Alex. "How do you do it? Become a spy? I mean, don't your parents care, or did they push you to do it? Because I mean, I fully understand pressure from pushy parents, look at my mom-"

"My parents died," Alex said, bluntly.

"Oh." Lia looked down at her hands. "Right."

Silence resumed for a few minutes. Alex wondering what to say next, and Lia wondering why she always seemed to say things that put people in these awkward situations.

"How did they die?" Lia asked. "I mean, only tell me if you want to. God, I'm being so nosy aren't I? I'm sorry. Just ignore me completely."

Alex looked at her. "Plane crash. I wasn't on it."

"Right," Lia muttered, twirling her thumbs in circles.

Wanting to finish the conversation there, Alex looked around the room. He scanned the pictures on the dresser in the corner, and saw one of the girl he had seen in the picture downstairs. He got up to examine it more. "Who is this?"

"My sister..." Lia whispered, not even having to look at the picture he was holding up.

"What happened to her?" Alex asked, not sure that he wanted to know the answer. The way she had acted downstairs would usually only mean one thing.

Lia looked up at him, and sighed. "She died. Two years ago."

"Oh." Alex put down the picture, and went to sit back down. "How?"

The girl next to him looked up at him, and he saw her for the first time, as this real person. All this time he had considered her even the slightest bit different than anyone else. Yet now... with her defences down, and her real personality showing, he saw that she wasn't any different from any other person he'd met. She was vulnerable, and hurting.

Lia wiped the tear that managed to escape from her eye away, and met Alex's gaze. "Leukaemia. She had it for three years."

Alex wasn't sure how to react. Here was the side of Lia Hartford that nobody had ever seen before. A side that he didn't even think that she had. Only twenty-four hours ago, if someone had suggested that Lia had feelings as deep as this... he probably would have laughed.

Lia sensed his hesitance, and got up. "We should get going. Ethan wants to have a sound check. I told him you were coming."

Alex nodded, and got up, ready to leave the room.

"It's okay, you know," Lia said.

"What's okay?" Alex asked, turning back to look at her.

Lia shrugged. "Not knowing how to act around me, because you feel that I'm not supposed to have problems like this. I get it all the time. Which is why I don't tell anybody. It's better to carry on playing a charade, than exposing myself and having everyone treat me like... well, like the way you just did."

Alex looked at the floor.

"I'll tell you all about her later. We just need to get to the sound check first," Lia sighed, and began to walk out of the room. When she got to the door, she turned around. "You coming?"

"Yeah," Alex said, and watched as she left the room. Then he began to follow her, wondering what else would happen that he never would have suspected. Probably a lot.


	9. Feels The Way I Do

**Music: **Oasis - Wonderwall

**"I don't believe that anybody, feels the way I do about you now"**

The sound check was remarkably uneventful. A few hours of Lia singing into a microphone, and then Ethan making some snide comment about lip-syncing. Alex couldn't really concentrate on anything that was going on. The conversation he'd had with Lia was running through his mind.

_It's better to carry on playing a charade, than exposing myself and having everyone treat me like... well, like the way you just did._

It seemed insane that she was sitting back and letting people walk all over her, for the sake of reactions of other people.

He wanted to bring it up in the car on the way home, but Lia sat silently, watching the world pass by outside the window. It also felt a little awkward with her mother in the front seat. So Alex decided to wait. Wait until he knew that she'd talk to him, and not just avoid the subject.

They stopped outside the house, and Lia immediately opened the door, and began running up the pathway.

"Lia? Are you okay?" her mother cried, and then turned to Alex. "Luke, do you have any idea what the matter is with her?"

Alex didn't take his eyes off of Lia, who was opening the door to her house. "No, I don't. Sorry."

Then he followed Lia, deciding to work out what was wrong.

---

Alex didn't even bother knocking as he flung open the door to Lia's room. "Okay, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she muttered, not taking her eyes off of the very interesting patch of wall she was looking at. She held a pillow in her arms, and her legs were folded underneath her. It was almost as if she was curling herself away; trying to protect herself from something.

"I might not have known you for long, but I'm a spy, and I know how to read people. Something is obviously wrong," Alex sat down opposite her.

Lia looked down at the pillow in her hands. "Why are you being so nice to me? You hated me a day ago."

"Perceptions change," Alex shrugged. "What's the mat-"

Lia interrupted him. "I miss her."

Alex didn't even have to ask. Her was obviously her sister, and it was natural to miss her. He couldn't say that he'd never thought about his parents, and wondered what they were like. He'd been given an insight when he talked about it with Mrs. Jones. But she couldn't tell him what they were like. How they acted, and how they smiled, and what their sense of humour was like. "Your sister?"

Lia nodded.

There was silence in the room for a few minutes; both of them thinking about the ones they'd lost.

"I have to go outside," Lia said, getting up and throwing the pillow on her bed. "I need to... get some air."

Alex got up. "I'll come too."

"You don't have to..." Lia muttered, but she wanted him to. If she went outside, and began thinking about her, she'd break down. She'd spent so long trying to block her sister out of her mind, but she knew it would catch up to her. And it was catching up fast. But if Alex was with her... then maybe something would hold her back. Dignity would stop her from just screaming.

They walked outside, managing to get through the entire house without seeing anybody. Although, at nightfall, Alex didn't know how many people there'd be anyway.

Lia led them to a back door, and sliding a key off of a hook, she opened it. It was darkening outside, and the silhouettes of various trees and bushes made dents in the purple sky. "I love it out here," she said simply. "Nobody ever comes out here, besides the gardener. It feels like my special place."

Alex smiled, but was unsure of what to say. "It's nice." He settled on something neutral. Lia couldn't possibly take that the wrong way.

"The best part is over here..." Lia muttered, and walked to a small gate in the bushes. Her hand brushed over a plaque in the middle of the gate, but quickly left it, and she opened it. "Through here...obviously."

Alex motioned for her to go first, and looked down at the engraving. _Jessica Hartford. 1988-2004. Always in our hearts. _So this garden was dedicated to Lia's sister. It was probably why she liked it so much. He walked through the gate, to find Lia just standing there, her arms wrapped around her and looking at the garden.

In the sunlight, Alex supposed this garden would be beautiful. Colourful and bright. And in the dark it was still beautiful, in a mysterious and calming way.

"This was her favourite place," Lia said, her back still turned to him. Her voice sounded constricted, like she was trying not to cry. Then again, Alex supposed she was trying to keep tears back. He doubted she'd been in this place for a while.

He walked over to her, and she looked at him. "She used to come out here and read, or write. Sometimes she even sung." A smile emerged from her lips. "She was such a bad singer. I used to tease her about it, but it never bothered her. She knew that even though she was a bad singer, that she excelled in places that I never would. School, for instance. Man, she was so much better at schoolwork than I was." Lia sat down on the grass, not caring that it was wet.

Alex sat opposite her, trying to understand. This was so much more than he had bargained for. Look after an international celebrity, get out alive. It had seemed so simple. Yet really, it was far from it.

"You got on well with your sister?" Alex asked. "I thought all siblings fought. Not that I would know..."

Lia smiled. "Yeah... I got on well with her. I mean, we fought, but we always knew that at the end of the day, we were always going to be sisters." She began picking blades of grass from the lawn around her. "I remember the day she was diagnosed. She'd had a fever for almost a week, and had lost a load of weight. And then she kept getting these headaches, and then her gums started bleeding. Mom was real worried, so she took her to the hospital. I was ten. I remember the doctors running some tests, and then they took ages to get back to us. Mom kept telling Jess that everything was going to be okay, but you could tell she was getting real worried. And then... the doctor came back, with this sympathetic look on his face. You could tell it was something bad. All of these long words were thrown around, and it ended with Mom in tears, asking for some sort of cure. Jess didn't completely understand, but she knew more than me. Acute lymphocytic leukaemia. That's what she had. And Mom cried, and Jess cried, and I sat there. Wondering what the heck was going on. Wondering why my sister and my Mom were in tears. It probably started me off. All of us, crying in the hospital room."

Alex tried to imagine that scene, but failed. Everything he had ever thought of Lia Hartford, was unravelling and slipping away, and a whole knew opinion of her was forming.

Lia was still talking. "Dad came home, and we all hoped for a while. And then they told us she'd start chemotherapy. And we all hoped for a while longer. Eventually it became a way of life. I would go to school, Jess would go to the hospital, we'd all come home and have dinner, and pretend we were a normal family. We were never a normal family. That went on for two years. Two whole years, and the tests kept coming back with the news that she still had the cancer. And then... she told us that she didn't want it anymore. She was fifteen, and she wanted to give up. I couldn't understand it. My sister had always been this strong person, and I'd looked up to her in everything. But now she was giving up? And I just kept asking myself why. Why was she throwing everything away? Why?"

"Maybe she felt as though she were being an inconvenience," Alex shrugged. "Maybe she didn't want her family to suffer anymore."

Lia couldn't stop the tears now. "I would gladly suffer for the rest of my life, just to have her back."

"I didn't know her, Lia. But I'm sure she wouldn't have wanted that," Alex muttered.

"Probably not... she was always putting other people before herself..." Lia whispered, and looked up at the sky, where the stars were just beginning to reveal themselves. "You know, her last days were full of me? My career had just started, because my Mom had contacted a record company. She'd decided that life had to go on, and that she would treat Jess the same as she usually would. Which was what Jess wanted. So she got on with her life. Jess was ecstatic when she found out that the record company were interested. So she came along with us to the meetings, and sat there, in her wheelchair, telling them about writing my own songs, and learning to play the guitar myself. But she had never trusted them. Not completely. There had been 'something fishy about them', as she put it. And she was right. They weren't interested in me. They were interested in another blonde, who could hold a tune, and that they could manufacture into another Britney Spears," Lia furiously wiped one of the many tears that were rolling down her face.

Alex shook his head. "They might not have been interested in you as yourself. But there are so many people who are interested in you. As a person. As you."

"Yeah, right. My dad? I haven't heard from him since Jess died. My mom? She never takes the time to ask me how I am, or how I'm feeling. My fans? They see me as this perfect girl, who has everything she always wanted," Lia lowered her voice. "Or you? You despised me Alex, and everything you thought I stood for. You didn't want to take this 'mission'. You were forced to. So don't tell me that there are lots of people interested in who I am. Because there aren't, okay? There just aren't."

Silence followed this speech. Lia feeling guilty for what she'd said, and Alex feeling guilty for being so narrow-minded.

"I'm sorry, Alex," Lia broke first. "Just...talking about it makes me like this..."

"Have you ever really talked about it?" Alex asked. "I mean, really talked about it?"

Lia shook her head. "To who? Nobody cares, Alex. They think that because I was twelve, that I can't remember it. That I don't care."

"Like they're taking advantage of you; that they look over you like you don't feel the same as everyone else?" Alex asked, relating the feeling he had had time and time again on various missions.

"Yeah," Lia sighed, and then fell back, so that she was lying on the grass looking at the stars.

Silence resumed again.

"She loved the stars, you know. Our last conversation was out under the stars. In this very spot. It's why we dedicated this part of the garden to her," Lia sighed.

"You had? I hadn't noticed," Alex lied.

Lia raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Yes you had. I saw you reading the plaque."

"Okay, I read it. But I didn't know about the stars," Alex said, and lay back next to her, feeling more relaxed than he had in a while.

"Yeah. She loved them. That last night... we sat counting them. And she showed me the best ones. She knew she was dying, and getting weaker. She made us wheel her out... one last time. Even though she didn't say that, looking back, you know she knew. That conversation was amazing. We didn't talk about her illness to begin with. And we both appreciated that. We'd had enough of the arguments over it, and the hints dropped. And we sat there, just talking. Like we used to before. Like we never would again..." The tears were flowing again, and Alex wasn't sure what to do. He knew he had to let her talk. All of this conversation; everything she'd kept in for so long was forcing it's way out, and he knew it must be healthier for her. But he didn't know how to react to it.

"Until she mentioned it. Her cancer. And right then, that was when I knew that I wouldn't have her for much longer. She told me that she wasn't afraid of dying. She wasn't afraid of moving on. She was afraid that we wouldn't. That we'd mourn forever. And she didn't want that. Jess would never have wanted that. She made me promise that I'd never give up my dreams. And that I'd always remember who I was. The guitar-playing, song-writing girl, who was true to herself all the time. She... she told me that she'd always be there. Over my shoulder. And she told me that no matter how hard things got, I had to keep going," Lia choked. "And I...I feel so bad, because I'm not going. I'm moving along, pretending everything is okay. I'm not being true to myself. I'm losing everything I ever stood for. Because it just seemed easier agreeing with everything back then. When I first lost her... and now, I want to change things. I want to make my promise true, but...I don't know how. I feel as though I let her down. When I didn't get to say goodbye. When I lost myself. When I broke my promise. I let her down, and I let myself down. And I don't know what to do."

Alex looked at her; watching her as she scanned the stars, the trails that the tears had made etched into her cheeks. Then he took her hand. She jumped a little, and turned her head.

"You'll find a way, Lia. She'll help you find a way," Alex muttered.

Lia smiled weakly. "I'm sorry for all of this. When I get started it's hard to stop, you know?"

Alex shrugged. "It's no problem."

"Thanks. For listening. Not many people would," Lia said.

"Not many people are me," Alex smiled, and let go of her hand.

Lia rolled her eyes, and looked back up at the starts. "Uh-huh... They sure are beautiful, aren't they?"

"Absolutely," Alex nodded, and tried to remember the constellations that his uncle had taught him. They had been on a camping trip, and Ian had pointed out the most prominent ones.

Lia lay, and tried to remember the same thing; which groups her sister had shown her.

Silence resumed, as the two teenagers lay on the grass, watching the stars.

**About 2500 words. Yay! **


	10. Is It A Monster

**Music: **The Automatic - Monster

**"What's that coming over the hill: is it a monster? Is it a monster?"**

A dark-haired man sat in his office, a telephone pressed to his ear, a dart in his free hand. He twisted the object between his fingers almost menacingly, back and forward...

"I don't care how you approach the matter. I didn't pay you all that money to come back to me with nothing! Who is this boy? Why is he suddenly her best friend?" he hissed into the phone.

---

"Do you think he'll kill me, Alex?" Lia asked, breaking the silence that had been smothering them for the past half an hour. They were still in the garden, pretending to count shooting stars. Neither of them were going to tell the other what they were really doing, or thinking.

"Who? Ethan?" Alex asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "Not if I have anything to do with it."

---

"We have to get the boy out of the way. What is the use of him? Why must he follow her around everywhere? If I didn't know better, I'd say that he was assigned to protect her. But who would send a fourteen-year-old boy to protect her?"

---

"Why do they send you on all these missions Alex? I mean, why not someone older? A black belt or something?" Lia asked, breaking the silence once more. Now Alex knew so much about her, she wanted to know something about him.

"I am a black belt," Alex looked at her, and she raised her eyebrows, impressed.

"Seriously? You? At like, karate?"

"Yes, at karate," Alex laughed. "And they choose me... because they can. And because I can get into all of these places without being too suspicious. If you were suddenly best friends with a thirty-year-old, people might think you were more than strange."

Lia nodded, smiling. "Very true. Although people probably think that anyway."

---

"It's all very strange. How he rescued her just in time. Like he knew something was going to happen." The man was still twirling the dart in his hand. "I want you to investigate him."

His face shadowed at something the person he was speaking to said. "I don't care how you do it! Just think of something! It's what I'm paying you for!"

---

"I think it's awesome. That you do all of this. And you might hate it, and be blackmailed into it, but I would have at least demanded some sort of reward. Money or something," Lia said.

"I thought you said money wasn't everything," Alex contradicted.

"When did I say that?" Lia asked, laughing.

Alex shrugged. "Never mind."

"No, you said I said something that I can't remember saying! When did I say that?" Lia asked, sitting up.

"It doesn't matter!" Alex sat up slowly.

---

"It doesn't matter how you do it. I want him gone. Gone anywhere. Away. I want him gone."

---

"Yes, it does!" Lia hit Alex's arm lightly. "What are you talking about?"

Alex just shook his head.

---

"And then I want you to go ahead with our plan, like we planned it. Nothing else will go wrong. Nothing else can go wrong."

---

"When did I say that money didn't matter to me?" Lia laughed. "I mean, it doesn't, but I don't think I've ever... wait... didn't I say that in an interview once? On Popworld or something?"

Alex shrugged, but was smiling. "I don't know."

"Yes, you do! I did! I said it on Popworld, when that Simon person was interviewing me, and the only way you could know that was if you watched it!" Lia smirked. "I thought you hated me, Mr. Rider..."

"I did. But I used to like watching Popworld," Alex shrugged.

Lia laughed, and stood up. "It's cold, and midnight, and I really think we should go inside before someone locks the door."

Alex got up, and walked ahead of her, getting to the door first. Then he tried to open it; feigning that it was locked. "Uh-oh."

"You're joking," Lia looked worried, and she caught up with him. "You're joking, right?"

Alex nodded, and opened the door. Lia rolled her eyes, and stepped inside, Alex following her.

---

"Nothing else can go wrong. We kill her, we get the money. Foolproof. Yes. Yes. Get right on it. We'll continue this conversation tomorrow." The man hung up the phone, and placed it back on the body of the phone. They had hit a little bump. A minor bump. It didn't matter. Everything would still be okay.

He twisted the dart in his hand once more, and then flung it at the dartboard on the wall opposite him.

It hit it. Square in the middle. But instead of the usual circle that marked the middle, the dart pierced a picture. Lia Hartford's picture.


End file.
